There’s been a tidal wave of new estate agents joining the industry looking for a slice of the pie, and to be the next top million-dollar agent.
But these new kids on the block are often without any real estate experience. And learning the ropes can be a minefield.
However, you’ll be surprised at just how many simple “tips and tricks” will have you saving time, avoiding tyre-kickers, or knowing when to spot a deal breaker.
Getting a grip, early on, of real estate principles, finance and law will undoubtedly create a solid foundation for success. Investing time in learning the practical aspects of being a “real life” estate agent, can mean the difference between success and failure.
We’re bringing you the top 5 best-selling books for aspiring real estate agents, all of which provide an insider’s perspective on becoming a successful real estate agent, and help them hone their skills.
#1 The Miracle Morning for Real Estate Agents
There’s something to be said about starting every day on the right foot and Hal Elrod is all about this. The Miracle Morning for Real Estate Agents will talk you through the exact morning routines of the industry’s top players. Certain habits may seem trivial, but carried out consistency over time will reap rewards.
#2 The Millionaire Real Estate Agent
Gary Keller’s The Millionaire Real Estate Agent is about taking your real estate career to the next level. But it’s an important read early in your real estate career because it forces you to see the big picture and think long-term.
This book will give you a millionaire agent mindset. First you’ll learn how to think like a millionaire. Then you’ll learn how to become one through real estate sales.
#3 The Book of Yes
No one likes to cold call. But if you’ve ever had to make these, you’ll probably know that it helps to have a script in mind. Author and multi-million dollar real estate agent, Kevin Ward swears by the belief that real estate sales is largely about scripts. He’s spent his career perfecting them.
The Book of YES: The Ultimate Real Estate Agent Conversation Guide will teach you exactly what to say in order to nail that ice-cold sales call.
#4 The Honest Real Estate Agent
Mario Jannatpour’s The Honest Real Estate Agent is a perfect introduction to the real estate industry. From topics like networking, negotiations, time management, basic marketing and professional integrity, this title covers a lot of ground in attempting to explain what the real estate profession is all about.
The Honest Real Estate Agent explains what’s required to be successful in the industry. And you can use that information to confirm that real estate is the right career move for you.
#5 The Million Dollar Listing Social Media
Many of today’s new agents are surprised at just how much business is done online via social media. Whilst you needn’t be a “social media expert” it is fast becoming part of the job description for real estate agents. Buyers and sellers are online. So you need an online presence that will engage them.
Check out Sebastian Acosta’s The Million Dollar Listing Social Media: The Ultimate Social Media Marketing Guide for Real Estate Professionals. It’s probably the most comprehensive book on the topic but there’s no harm in getting comfortable with this minefield, even before you’re officially licensed.
Habits for life
Many of these habits, designed to make agents better at their jobs, will actually set you up for success in every area of your life. Because even for agents, life is about more than just real estate.
For informative news and views on the world of real estate, proptech and AI, follow overwrite on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.
If you came across a four bedroom, 3.5 bathroom home listed for sale recently on a quiet cul-de-sac in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, you might not think twice about the online listing. It included typical real estatedescriptions like “ideal for entertaining” and “ample space for relaxation.”
ButJJ Johannes, the realtor for the home, created the description in less than five seconds by typing a few keywords into ChatGPT, a viral new AI chatbot tool that can generate elaborate responses to user prompts.
It’s a task, he said, that would otherwise have taken him an hour or more to write on his own.
“It saved me so much time,” Johannes told CNN, noting he made a few tweaks and edits to ChatGPT’s work before publishing it.
“It’s not perfect but it was a great starting point. My background is in technology and writing something eloquent takes time. This made it so much easier.”
Johannes is among the real estate agents experimenting with ChatGPT since it was released publicly in late November. Some residential and commercial agents told CNN it has already changed the way they work, from writing listings and social media posts to drafting legal documents. It could also be used to automate repetitive tasks such as answering frequently asked questions and doing complex calculations.
This live real estate listing was created, using overwrite.ai, real estate themed #genAI tool, by a Dubai real estate agent. The property is currently for sale on real estate portal Property Finder. But online chat GPT used by Johannes, this listing is created using overwrite.ai’ proprietary software. Overwrite is a proprietary AI. It has built its own proprietary datasets. And it’s own domain specific corpus. So it’s capable of generating localised, fit-for-purpose property descriptions.
ChatGPT is trained on vast amounts of online data in order to generate responses to user prompts. It has written original essays, stories, song lyrics and research paper abstracts that fooled some scientists. Some CEOs have used it to write emails or do accounting work. It even passed an exam at an Ivy League school. (It has, however, raised concerns among some for its potential to enable cheating and for its inaccuracies.)
In less than two months,ChatGPT has sparked discussions around its potential to disrupt various industries, from publishing to law. But it’s already having a tangible impact on how a number of real estate agents around the country do their jobs – where much of the written work can be formulaic and time consuming – to the extent that some can no longer imagine working without it.
“I’ve been using it for more than a month, and I can’t remember the last time something has wowed me this much,” said Andres Asion, a broker from the Miami Real Estate Group.
‘As soon as I tried it out, I was sold”
Recently, a client reached out to Asion with a problem: the womanhad moved into a pre-construction home and couldn’t open her windows. She had attempted to contact the developer for months with no response. Asion ran a copy of one of her emails through ChatGPT, asking it to rewrite it with an emphasis on the liability implications.
“ChatGPT wrote it as a legal issue and all of a sudden, the developer showed up at her house,” he said.
Asion has also used the tool to draft legally binding addendums and other documents, and sent them to lawyers for approval. “I fine-tune all kinds of drafts with ChatGPT,” he said. “Sometimes I’ll tell it to make it shorter or funnier, and it gives you so many samples to pick and edit from.”
ChatGPT is free for now, but OpenAI,the company behind it, is reportedly considering a monthly charge of$42.Asion said “it’s not even a question” he would pay for access. “I would easily pay $100 or $200 a year for something like this,” he said. “I’d be crazy not to.”
Frank Trelles, a commercial real estate agent at State Street Realty in Miami, said he’d also pay to keep using the tool, which has already impacted the way he does business. “As soon as I tried it out, I was sold,” he said. “I went to sign up for a package, thinking it would be at least $100 a month, and was blown away that it was free. Nothing in this world is free though – and that made me a bit nervous.”
Trelles said he uses ChatGPT to look up the permitted uses for certain land and zones in Miami-Dade County, and calculate what mortgage payments or return on investment might be for a client, which typically involve formulas and mortgage calculators.
“I can be in a car with a client when they ask me what their mortgage payments might be,” said Trelles. “I can ask ChatGPT what a mortgage payment would be on a $14 million purchase at a 7.2% interest rate amortized over 25 years with two origination points at closing, and in two seconds, it gives me that information. It also explains how it got the answer. It’s amazing.”
Lots of potential, and some limitations
There are some limitations, however. The tool has, for example, struggled with some basic math before. Trelles said it’s helpful for approximations on the go, not for exact numbers.
Serge Reda, a commercial real estate executive and adjunct professor at the Fordham Real Estate Institute, said some use cases for ChatGPT are better than others. ChatGPT may help save brokers time when writing listings or responses, but automating client responses may not be the best tactic because generating leads and closing transactions typically requires a personalized approach.
“It’s accessible to everyone right now because it’s free and they can get a taste of how this powerful tool can work. But there are definitely significant limitations,” he said.
While ChatGPT has generated a wave of interest among realtors,incorporating artificial intelligence in the real estate market isn’t entirely new. Listing site Zillow, for example, has used AI for 3D mapping, creating automatic floor plans and for its Zestimate tool, which can scan pictures to see if a home has hardwood floors or stainless steel appliances so its price estimation better reflects market conditions. Earlier this week, Zillow rolled out an AI-feature that lets potential buyers conduct searches in a more natural language (something that’s long been mastered by Google).
Matt Kreamer, a spokesperson for Zillow, said the real estate industry has been slower to innovate, but “I think we’ll be seeing much bigger strides very soon.” He saidZillowsees no clear concerns with agents using ChatGPT to help streamline the work they already do and save time.
“We aren’t promoting or wary of ChatGPT but are interested in how it’s being used and watching it,” he said.
Although it’s too early to say if the tool will become a mainstay in real estate, realtor Johannes believes AI in general will transform hisindustry and others.
“It may not be with ChatGPT,” he said, “but I believe some form of artificial intelligence like this will become a big part of how we work and live our lives.”
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of overwrite.ai and its owners.
This story has been published from an article in CNN published on 28th January 2022.
For informative news and views on the world of real estate, proptech and AI, follow overwrite on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.
overwrite | real estate content creation, reimagined
Like a pride of lions, your reputation, and that of your Agency, are intertwined. And in the Real Estate Animal Kingdom, only the strongest survive.
It’s no secret. Your industry is more challenging now, than ever. The potential for massive earnings and the low barriers to entry, are leading to increasing competition.
Greater compliance oversight. Rising portal charges. Interest rate hikes. These are all very real challenges that demand your continuous evolution.
Here’s the bottom line. Estate Agents are pack animals, not lone wolves. Every Agent is bound to an Agency, and must work together to market themselves and their properties.
Butwhat if your marketing department is failing YOU?
Hunting Together
To survive, indeed to thrive, you must hunt together. You will only ever be as strong as the brand you represent. How that brand markets itself, and markets you, is critical to your success. So ask yourself, “Is the brand I work for doing everything possible to support me?”
Continuous evolution. I said it before. I’ll say it again. If your agency’s marketing team aren’t doing enough to have your back in this cut-throat animal kingdom, you die. If they stand still, falling prey to the complacency of how they do things, you die. If they are not leveraging the latest technologies, guess what? You die.
Your marketing team has got to be top-notch. If they’re scrimping on budgets, or out of touch with tech, they’re no good to you. A weak link in your chain. Impeding your earning potential.
Animal Rights
It’s your right to query anything that could impede or enhance your income. If they’re not on their game, they’re taking you down a road to nowhere. Pure and simple.
You need to know where your marketing department’s budget is being spent. And what that’s getting you in return.
Here are 5 questions that all Estate Agents must be asking their marketing departments in 2023:
What international and local best practices are baked into your marketing strategy?
Are you originating tactics to distinguish you from competition, or just copying what others do?
Do you consciously try to drive traffic to our website, and not just portals? How? What are the results?
How do you ensure that the quality of content we, and our brand, publicly associate our names with, is always of the highest standard?
For each marketing dollar you spend, what is our ROI? (Tip: Nothing less than 300% should suffice)
A Fighting Chance
overwrite.ai is a real estate domain-specific generative AI tool. This means that it generates accurate, localised real estate content based on specific data sets. The content is designed for customised property marketing listings and helps agents sell more homes.
A Little Tip
The easiest way to know whether your marketing team’s thinking of your best interest, is if they’ve subscribed to overwrite.ai for you. If not, get them to without further delay. Only then will you understand what you’ve been missing.
For informative news and views on the world of real estate, proptech and AI, follow overwrite on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.
overwrite | real estate content creation, reimagined
When OpenAI launched the AI chatbot at the end of November, it instantly attracted millions of users, with breathless predictions of its potential to disrupt business models and jobs.
It certainly promises to deliver on a prediction I made in 2019 in my book The Human Edge, which explores the skills needed in a world of artificial intelligence and digitization. I forecasted: “…AI can offer us more free time by automating the stupid stuff we currently have to do, thereby reducing our cognitive burden.”
The prize is clear for leaders.
Use ChatGPT to liberate hours spent on simple tasks each week. Then divert this time towards high-impact skills more suited to human beings. Activities such as:
Asking curious questions
Communicating purpose, vision, strategy, and values
Supporting collaboration
Catalyzing learning
Encouraging creative thinking and innovation
AI can help busy leaders make time to become more human
The Emergence of ChatGPT
ChatGPT is not a revolution. However, it is a significant evolution. This free online resource does the same job as previous AI assistants like Siri, Cortana, and Alexa, just better. Crucially, the bot remembers earlier answers in the same conversation. This allows it to adapt and respond more usefully to follow-up questions. The result is eerily like an intelligent, emergent dialogue.
The old cliché states leadership is a lonely place. For time-stressed managers, this AI means they have access to a free, confidential, and well-informed advisor. Over time, ChatGPT will evolve to support the work of functional departments such as HR, communications, and marketing. In the long run, it may spell the end of many executive assistant roles
Leadership Gains
Leadership use cases include faster research and brainstorming to generate ideas for team learning, business development, and strategy. Many will use it to speed up the creation of content they need every day: emails, talking points, and presentations. The AI supports the entire writing process: outlining, editing, proofreading, and summarizing. Wise leaders will use the saved time to engage on a human level with colleagues and customers.
A Tool, Not a Replacement
I would not advise using ChatGPT without judgment and discretion. Blindly outsourcing your emails and meetings to ChatGPT is an accident waiting to happen. It’s also crucial for leaders need to weave their authentic style into all their communication.
This tool can accelerate the start of a thinking process, even if it is soon out of its depth. ChatGPT has yet to learn of world events after 2021, which was the last time it received training information. Like most chatbots, it also occasionally generates weird and incorrect responses. However, if it can provide such credible material for a delicate performance review, it must be helpful in automating more mundane, day-to-day communication.
Empowering the Creatives
Social media is ablaze with amazingly creative uses for this AI, including writing rap lyrics, generating food recipes, and creating new brand names.
For busy leaders, the clock is always ticking. ChatGPT helps with the heavy lifting at the start of a project, process and even a tricky personnel issue. But it’s not a replacement for thought, just the latest AI tool to make us more productive – so we can find the time to be more human.
AI in Proptech
Overwrite is a domain-specific generative AI tool for real estate. This means that it generates accurate, localised real estate content based on specific data sets. Overwrite uses its own natural language machine learning technology together with the data inputted by the real estate agent. The content is designed for customised property marketing listings and helps agents sell more homes.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of overwrite.ai and its owners.
This story is from an article in Forbes published 11th February 2023.
For informative news and views on the world of real estate, proptech and AI, follow overwrite on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.
overwrite | real estate content creation, reimagined
Emojis are relevant as ever. If used correctly, a brand can become instantly relatable to its target audience.
A Linkedin post. An Instagram caption. An email campaign subject title.
Make no mistake – execute “emoji marketing” well, and it can have a huge impact on your marketing efforts.
But there’s a whole language behind the pretty pictures. And if you want to 1) make your content pop, 2) appear relatable and 3) reveal the “human” behind your brand, (without making any embarrassing blunders along the way), you must follow certain rules.
Your Guide to Emoji Marketing
1. Context is 🔑
It’s crucial to be mindful of cultural differences. Regardless if it’s a one-sentence tweet, or a lengthier Linkedin post. What’s a normal emoji to you could carry a different cultural connotation in another country. The linguistic context emojis carry across cultures and generations mustn’t be underestimated. Avoiding any unintentional insults or inappropriate connotations is vital.
2. A 🍑 isn’t a peach
Always look up possible risqué connotations for emojis before using them to sell your products. They can hold very different meanings. For example, a peach isn’t a peach. An eggplant isn’t an eggplant. Save yourself from getting caught up in a potentially embarrassing social media crisis, that could’ve easily been avoided with a simple Google search.
3. There is a 🕐 and 📍 for emoji use
Sometimes emojis can completely change the meaning (and tone) of a message. Some customers might feel that the use (or overuse) of emojis is frivolous or lacks professionalism. They also risk diluting the impact of your message, especially if it’s intended to be serious. Know when not to use them.
4. Test, test, and test 📝
Do your emoji-laden tweets get more engagement than text only ones? Do emojis on LinkedIn drive more clicks to articles you share? Do your followers swipe up more when you include emojis in your Instagram Stories? Test different use cases and learn from the results.
5. Research your audience 🧐
Understand your audience to see what will fly with them. Monitor their emojis and emotions to target your emoji marketing campaign and understand their sentiment towards your brand.
6. Minimal is chic ✨
Just because emojis boost engagement, you shouldn’t stuff your social post with emojis. Aside from being an aesthetic nightmare, an emoji-filled post will fetch you a one-way ticket to being trolled mercilessly online. Rightfully so. You need to know when enough is enough.
7. Beware of formatting blunders 😖
Emojis do not always look similar across different mobile devices. What’s formatted correctly on an iPhone may have weird line breaks when you check the same tweet on the desktop. Always keep this in mind while crafting content that’s dependent on a well-located emoji – it could completely ruin all your hard work and make your clients *cringe (enter appropriate *cringe emoji).
8. The Mindful Emoji user 😇
It’s not just cultures you must be aware of while using emojis. Generational differences matter as well. In essence, the next time you’re crafting content and want to use emojis, be mindful of the different connotations emojis carry across generations, as well as cultures.
Emojis are here to stay 🙏
Love them or hate them, they’re not going anywhere fast. In fact, the number of emojis available across multiple platforms and devices, seems to be ever-expanding. Understandable given the evidence that a single, cleverly placed emoji can add significant emotional cues to marketing content.
But too much of a good thing is never advisable. So use with caution. Know when enough is enough. Be mindful of your audience. Do your research. And, if you want results, it pays to be consistent, stick with what works, build momentum, and have fun along the way.
For informative news and views on the world of real estate, proptech and AI, follow overwrite on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.
overwrite | real estate content creation, reimagined
The buzz around generative AI today is deafening. No topic in the world of technology is attracting more attention and hype right now.
Generative AI refers to artificial intelligence that can generate novel content, rather than simply analyzing or acting on existing data.
The white-hot epicenter of today’s generative AI craze has been text-to-image AI.
It was the sudden emergence of these text-to-image AI models over the summer that catalyzed today’s generative AI frenzy: billion-dollar funding rounds for nascent startups, nonstop media coverage, and waves of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists hastily rebranding themselves as AI-focused.
It makes sense that text-to-image AI, more than any other area of artificial intelligence, has so captivated the public’s imagination. Images are aesthetically appealing, easy to consume, fun to share, ideally suited to go viral.
The AI Avatar trend went viral in late 2022
Text-to-image AI is incredibly powerful technology
And to be sure, text-to-image AI is incredibly powerful technology. The images that these models can produce are breathtaking in their originality and sophistication. Image-generating AI will transform industries including advertising, gaming and filmmaking.
Reimagining Albert Einstein, through Generative AI
But make no mistake: current buzz notwithstanding, AI-powered text generation will create many orders of magnitude more value than will AI-powered image generation in the years ahead.
Machines’ ability to generate language—to write and speak—will prove to be far more transformative than their ability to generate visual content.
The Power of the Written Word
Language is humanity’s single most important invention. More than anything else, it is what sets us apart from every other species on the planet.
Almost nothing about modern civilization would be possible without language.
To illustrate the depth and breadth of the coming transformation, let’s walk through some example applications.
From Sales to Science
The first true “killer application” for generative text, in terms of commercial adoption, has proven to be copywriting: that is, AI-generated website copy, social media posts, blog posts and other marketing-related written content.
AI-powered copywriting has seen stunning revenue growth over the past year.
Jasper, one of the leading startups in this category, launched a mere 18 months ago and will reportedly do $75 million in revenue this year, making it one of the fastest-growing software startups ever. Jasper just announced a $125 million fundraise valuing the company at $1.5 billion. Unsurprisingly, a raft of competitors has emerged to chase this market.
Copywriting is just the beginning
Generative AI will transform the world of customer service and call centers, across industries: from hospitality to ecommerce, from healthcare to financial services. The same goes for internal IT and HR helpdesks.
Language models (like overwrite.ai) can already automate much of the work that happens before, during and after customer service conversations, including in-call agent coaching and after-call documentation and summarization.
Soon, paired with generative text-to-speech technology, they will be able to handle most customer service engagements end-to-end, with no human needed—not in the stilted, brittle, rules-based way that automated call centers have worked for years, but in fluid natural language that is effectively indistinguishable from a human agent.
To put it simply: nearly all of the interactions that you as a consumer will need to have with a brand or company, on any topic, can and will be automated.
For some lower-stakes use cases—say, writing outbound sales emails or website copy—the technology will soon be advanced and robust enough that users motivated by the potential productivity gains will feel comfortable automating the application end-to-end, with no human in the loop at all.
At the other end of the spectrum, some safety-critical use cases—say, using generative models to diagnose and propose treatments for individual patients—will for the foreseeable future require a human in the loop to review and approve the models’ output before any real action is taken.
But make no mistake: generative language technology is improving fast—almost unbelievably fast.
Within months, expect industry leaders like OpenAI and Cohere to release new models that represent dramatic, step-change improvements in language capabilities compared to today’s models (which themselves are already breathtakingly powerful).
Over the longer term, the trend will be decisive and inevitable: as these models get better, and as the products built on top of them become easier to use and more deeply embedded in existing workflows, we will hand over more responsibility for more of society’s day-to-day functions to AI, with little or no human oversight. More and more of the use cases described above will be carried out end-to-end, in a closed-loop manner, by language models that we have empowered to decide and act.
This may sound startling, even terrifying, to readers today. But we will increasingly acclimate to the reality that machines can carry out many of these functions more effectively, more quickly, more affordably and more reliably than humans could.
Massive disruption, vast value creation, painful job dislocation and many new multi-billion-dollar AI-first companies are around the corner.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of overwrite.ai and its owners.
This story has been published from an article in Forbes published on 6th November 2022.
For informative news and views on the world of real estate, proptech and AI, follow overwrite on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.
overwrite | real estate content creation, reimagined
According to a McKinsey study, nine out of 10 businesses think that their business model needs to change in 2023 and over half believe that they need to build new digital businesses to remain economically viable.
It’s not only the uncertainty and rising living costs making businesses rethink their digital strategy. Shifts in consumer expectations and a focus on sustainability have put further pressure on companies to innovate, and act as advocates for change.
Digital transformation has created a scenario where companies that are fast and agile stand to outlive those that aren’t.
But with so many competing priorities, how does one decide where to begin? Experts say, start with the basics.
Dust off your data
Before you even start to look at bringing in new technology, you need to inform your decision-making by gathering the right data. Many companies still struggle with disjointed or incomplete data and that can lead DX efforts astray.
Start by taking stock of the data you have. You might be collecting a lot of data from different sources that you haven’t brought together, haven’t interpreted and, therefore, you don’t know how to create value out of it. Also look at external sources. In some cases, combining data between organisations across the sector can provide insights on consumer trends that you might not otherwise have had.
Decide which tech (such as AI) can best tackle specific issues
Once you have clean and sufficient data you can think about which technologies, such as machine learning and AI, will best use it to tackle specific issues.
Invest in core capabilities
Inflationary spikes and a looming recession are making companies think about how to achieve more with less, both in terms of their labour and digital capabilities. Improvements in workforce scheduling, for example, can mitigate issues with labour shortages while automating manual tasks can increase productivity.
Ruben Schaubroeck is senior partner and leader of McKinsey’s digital practice in the UK, Ireland and Israel. He recommends taking an incremental approach, where small changes can lead to big results. “The best organisations take a domain-specific view of data, for instance customer service or digital sales, and think about how they can take an end-to-end view of that use case to show a clear impact on customers and employees.”
We often talk about digital and data teams and reskilling top management, but you also have to think about how you can retrain your workforce more broadly.
On the other hand, companies need to exercise caution about how they build their technical capabilities. While many companies oscillate between buying a single enterprise solution or building a custom solution from standalone tools, the most agile businesses usually do both. They buy into a modern enterprise solution and then use it as the foundation for all the other bolt-on pieces.
Focus on customer experience
While digital innovation occurs across sectors, B2B organisations often lag behind B2C vendors in customer experience. This needs to change.
Experience matters regardless of the type of business you run. Consumers, especially newer generations, can be unforgiving about engaging with brands if the experience isn’t enjoyable and more likely to turn away than to stay. Customers often move between different touch-points, from customer services to sales or sales to in-store, and in-store to online.
One way you can build this single customer view is to capitalise on data. Customer loyalty programmes are helping to drive this digital shift. Provided you have the necessary data, you can start thinking about how you can personalise each touchpoint to drive upsells and increase brand loyalty.
Embed digital in your corporate DNA
Digital transformation is often more about the people than the technology behind it. It’s about how you respond to risks and opportunities.
Resistance to change is the most common reason she sees DX projects fail, so it’s important to have the right talent in place. Change management is an underestimated factor in digital transformation and it needs to be a priority.
Where some businesses hire in chief technology officers to manage digital transformation, others are introducing roles such as a chief of data to manage the overall data analytics infrastructure.
Looking beyond hiring, it is vital to invest in upgrading the digital competencies of your overall workforce, at scale.
Practise good digital hygiene
Sustainability, resilience, cybersecurity and risk management are often afterthoughts in the process of implementing new digital solutions. But these elements need to be included at the beginning to build a lasting digital solution.
Does your solution allow you to be more agile in times of uncertainty? Do you have a disaster recovery plan should one of your data centres fail? Do you have a good data governance policy in place which informs your employees how to collect and use data? If the answer is no to most of these questions, you still have some ground-level work to do.
Living and breathing digital evolution
It is vital to invest in upgrading the digital competencies of your overall workforce, at scale.
Digital business transformation is a holistic approach to changing the way an organisation thinks, organises, operates and behaves. The digital strategy, in this sense, should be a living, breathing thing that evolves alongside the business.
But embarking on the DX journey requires caution. Trying to do too much too fast or doing nothing at all can both cost dearly.
Instead, examine the overall business goal to see what emerging technology, whatever your industry, can help achieve it.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of overwrite.ai and its owners.
This story has been published from an article in Raconteur published on 29th November 2022.
For informative and light-hearted news and views on the world of real estate, follow overwrite.ai on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.
overwrite.ai | the AI writing assistant for real estate | Sign up for your Free 7 Day Trial.
Make your open houses zing with holiday cheer. 🎄 Follow these handy Do’s and Don’ts!
1. DO: Make an entrance
Whatever the climate, make sure the entrance to the property is presentable. If your clients live in a cold climate, all walkways and stairs must be free of ice and snow. If you’re based in the desert (Dubai Brokers out there!), a quick sweep up of sandy doorsteps will go a long way.
2. DO: Control the temperature
Make sure the AC is turned up or heating turned on, when it’s time for the open house. If buyers are uncomfortable due to the temperature of the room, they are less likely to enjoy their viewing.
3. DO: Track the weather
If there’s a sandstorm or heatwave forecast to hit, it may be best to reschedule the open house. Make sure to keep an eye on upcoming weather warnings and be prepared with a new date.
4. DO: Deck the halls
Get into the spirit of the season. Take advantage of the holiday period by encouraging sellers to incorporate holiday décor into their open house. Twinkling Christmas lights or a scented holiday candle can welcome buyers and lift spirits.
5. DO: Write a powerful listing description
Listing descriptions these days are more than just point form lists. You need a powerful listing description! You want to engage your clients to feel excited about the home — especially about what the joy of purchasing a new home during the holidays will mean for them. Try to capture the excitement of the holidays to drive interest. Don’t have time to think of engaging words and carefully constructed sentences? This can easily be achieved using an AI writing assistant, specialised for real estate marketing.
Don’ts for holiday open houses
There are some things you definitely want to be careful of over the holidays when it comes to open houses.
1. DON’T: Overdo the holiday spirit
Holiday decorations will create a cozier atmosphere in the home, but you don’t want to overdo it. It can have the opposite effect. Anything that may distract from the home’s curb appeal – giant Santa and Rudolph inflatables, for example—should be put away until after the showing.
2. DON’T: Forget to declutter
Try not to go overboard and keep clutter to a minimum. Put away personal items, such as family photos, as they tend to distract potential buyers.
3. DON’T: Emphasize religion too heavily
Remember not everyone celebrates Christmas. There are many religions that don’t celebrate this time of year. Going overboard on religious symbols can be off-putting to some, so remind your clients to keep it tasteful despite their personal convictions.
4. DON’T: Leave presents out in the open
‘Tis the season of giving, but not to potential buyers. Make sure you pack expensive gifts and treasures away. Not only do many presents clutter the home, but they can be awkwardly personal for a new family trying to imagine their own future memories in the home.
Yes, you can sell homes over the holidays
The bottom line is, the work doesn’t stop just because the holidays are here! Use this time of year to brighten your home opens, not as an excuse to give up.
Remember, some buyers and tenants specifically look to this time of year to shop for a new property, and you might have just the one for them.
For informative and light-hearted news and views on the world of real estate, follow overwrite on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.
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Qatar isn’t the only country getting a giant boom in tourism thanks to its hosting of the 2022 World Cup.
The neighbouring United Arab Emirates is also set to benefit, with Dubai expected to see an estimated 1 million additional visitors during the course of the soccer tournament, according to the Dubai 6 Sports Council.
Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, in August called Dubai “the major gateway” to the World Cup and predicted it would see more tourists than Qatar itself.
And the city is pulling out all the stops, leveraging its reputation as a hyper-modern city more liberal and built-out than Qatar and advertising the extravagant tourist attractions it’s developed a reputation for.
Dubai “the major gateway” to the World Cup
Dubai is known for over-the-top and outlandish experiences — like its indoor ski slope complex in the desert, to the world’s tallest building and largest Ferris wheel.
With superyacht rentals, private jets and a soccer-themed hotel – Dubai is ready for the party.
It’s now added specific World Cup-themed experiences, simultaneously taking advantage of the fact that Qatar, a tiny country of 3 million people, is struggling to accommodate all its expected tourists and many of them will opt to lodge in Dubai for the matches instead.
This has been made possible by “match day air shuttles” being operated by Qatar Airlines and Dubai-based low-cost carrier FlyDubai– allowing travelers to book same-day round-trip flights from Dubai or nearby Oman to attend a match in Qatar and return in less than 24 hours.
“Only an hour away from Qatar by flight, Dubai is a familiar destination for global travelers,” Taufiq Rahim, a research fellow at the Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government, told CNBC. “Its tourism infrastructure and straightforward entry requirements make it a convenient base for World Cup fans.”
Qatar is expected to have delivered 45,000 hotel rooms in total by the start of November, according to Cushman & Wakefield Qatar, with tournament accommodation “bolstered by cruise ships, camping facilities, apartments and villas.”
Dubai, meanwhile, as a city has more than 140,000 hotel rooms, according to hotel data firm STR.
Around the UAE’s different emirates, 43 fan zones for watching matches have been set up, with some of the biggest – like Budweiser’s official BudX fan zone in Dubai Harbor – big enough to host 10,000 fans daily with matches aired on enormous 3,552 square-foot screens.
There’s even a soccer-themed hotel on Dubai’s man-made Palm archipelago, where the most dedicated fans can stay while being shuttled in and out of Doha for daily matches.
A $20,000 per night match viewing experience
Dubai’s revenue won’t just be coming from hotel stays and restaurants. Visitors to the emirate can rent superyachts running in the tens of thousands of dollars per night to watch matches while sailing through the Persian Gulf.
Xclusive Yachts, the UAE’s largest private charter yacht company, offers its most opulent seaborne experience at $20,000 per night on a trip-deck super yacht complete with a skydeck, onboard bar, skylounge, five cabins and a Michelin-starred chef serving gourmet meals.
“We are expecting a more than 300% [rise] in yacht bookings in November and December mainly due to visitors for the World Cup and Qatar who are also looking for leisure activities in Dubai,” Managing Director Amit Patel told Doha News in October.
Flight traffic is also shooting up — Dubai Airports in mid-November announced that a whopping 120 shuttle flights will fly in and out of the Dubai World Central airport each day between the tournament’s start and end dates of Nov. 20 and Dec. 18.
CEO of Flydubai, Ghaith Al Ghaith, said that nearly all of the airline’s match-day shuttle flights to Doha were at full capacity.
“This is a pattern that looks set to continue over the next couple of days and weeks,” Al Ghaith said.
Flydubai and Qatar Airways will be jointly running the match day shuttle flights between DWC and Doha. With the addition of flights from Dubai’s main airport, Dubai International (DXB), travelers can catch a flight every 30 to 50 minutes.
Private jet demand booms
Private jet charter companies have also seen a boom in business, with some fans willing to pay eye-watering sums to get to matches.
“We certainly see a great increase in traffic between Dubai and Doha over the coming month,” Oleg Kafarov, portfolio development and communications director at Dubai-based private charter jet company Jetex, told CNBC.
Prices for some private jet service packages run for 29,000 dirhams ($7,895) a seat. The flight time between Dubai and Doha is roughly an hour.
Party time
Like everything in Dubai, there’s a luxury option if you have the cash to spend. And given its reputation, we wouldn’t expect anything less as neighbours to the World Cup host.
So whether you’re partying on the ground, or taking to the skies for a taste of the live action in Qatar, it seems there’s no escaping World Cup fever and Dubai is ever-ready to get you in the spirit of the world sporting celebrations.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of overwrite.ai and its owners.
This story has been published from an articleon 24th November 2022. The headline and imagery has been changed.
For informative and light-hearted news and views on the world of real estate, follow overwrite.ai on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.
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Dubai’s property rent review regulations are to be shaken up. But is it for the better?
Rent reviews are currently linked to a geographically segmented rental price index. Reviews are capped in line with the average for a property’s location.
The Dubai Lands Department is rolling out a new index, said to factor specific building quality and amenities.
At first glance this looks like great news.
Vigilant. Proactive. Data-driven governance. But on reflection, could this be interventionist overkill?
Data Overload
An index comprised of such granular data becomes a mammoth task to maintain, even with the use of modern technology. Very possible that it falls on its own sword over time.
Example: A building’s owner spends millions today, completely upgrading its lift systems. How long until that Capex is reflected in the index? In real time? A month later? A year?
(More detail on how the index will be constructed and updated would help).
A Healthier Alternative?
Could we instead rely on market economics to determine rent reviews. At most, the regulator can set a cap and collar in place to protect against tenant and landlord exploitation.
Wouldn’t that be:
Less labour (and tech) intensive? Less subjective? More efficient?
All Systems Go
At the end of the day, property investment yields are a correlation between price and income. When the former is determined by free market economics, and the latter is controlled, the result is high price volatility.
The precise opposite of what a stable, healthy real estate economy needs.
Is this proposed change vigilance, or overkill?
Share your vote below 👇
For informative and light-hearted news and views on the world of real estate, follow overwrite.ai on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.
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Inflation is hitting everyone hard. Interest rates are higher than they’ve been in years. Home prices have continued to rise, and buyers have cooled on buying homes in the short term.
But there are some things that real estate agents can do now to survive, and grow business during the coming downturn.
Savvy real estate agents are preparing for the slowdown. Doing everything they can to pick up momentum and come out on the other side a leader in their market.
Looking for ways to ride out the recession?
Here’s some tips to recession-proof your business.
1. Expand your Territory
When the housing market shifts, it rarely shifts all at once and all in the same direction. Typically, a cooling off in prices and demand for homes in one sector, means an increase in another. If your local market is quiet, start by expanding your reach a little outside of your everyday transactions.
Look outside your normal geographic area and outside your normal price ranges. Find where people are still buying and selling.
You might even consider a completely different niche—like divorce leads. Done right, this can be a generous source of qualified leads that can fill your pipeline indefinitely. Visit DivorceThisHouse.com and learn the secrets to tapping into this often overlooked lead-gen source.
2. Level up your Personal Branding
Now is definitely not the time to become a secret agent. The last thing you want is to drop off the radar in your market.
Focus your marketing efforts on brand awareness and social media marketing. You want your prospects to know who you are and what you stand for. That way, when they’re ready to pull the trigger on a purchase or sale, you’ll be the person they think of.
3. Healthcheck your CRM
Let the CRM do the heavy lifting.
Your customer relationship management (CRM) should “work” your database for you. Setting up your CRM to keep track of your prospects, clients, and leads in today’s real estate space is essential.
Focus your marketing efforts on people who will need your services three, six, or even 12 months from now. That will help fill your pipeline with clients and keep your business healthy.
The CRM will act as an assistant, reminding you of important facts about your clients, what you discussed in your last conversation, and when you need to follow up. Let the technology do the heavy lifting.
4. Maintain Existing Clients
When the economy changes due to uncertain conditions, changing your approach to servicing your buyers and sellers may be necessary. Your client relationships are key at this time of transition, so showing them that you can still help them in whatever market we find ourselves in is important.
Even when the market isn’t in your client’s favour at the moment, it’s important to maintain your relationship because the market will always change, and your clients will remember loyalty.
5. Keep ahead of the (Economic) Times
It’s important to understand how an economic downturn impacts housing. If things in the real estate market go south for a little while, we likely won’t be alone. Many sectors of the economy will also contract, and it’s essential to understand the housing market in the context of the overall financial picture. Not all sectors of your market may slow down.
Companies like Keeping Current Matters provide graphics, charts, and infographics that you can add to your branding and post online. Posting relevant market insights positions you as an expert to your sphere and helps inform your community about current market conditions.
6. Connect as a Real Person
Recessions are challenging for everyone. That’s why it’s important to connect with your clients as a human who cares about them (and not just a real estate agent who wants to help with a transaction).
Inflation is high, prices for consumer good are rising astronomically and the world seems a pretty unstable place right now.
A phone call or a text checking in can go a long way. Plus, you’ll stay top of mind when those market questions come up.
If all you care about is getting their commission fee, this will soon become obvious to your clients. Genuine agents will gain the trust of clients. They’re likely to remain loyal and turn to you for unbiased advice, even if the outcome is not in their favour.
7. Focus Your Attention on Your Sphere of Influence
Switch your marketing efforts to your personal sphere of influence and develop a stronger referral base. These are people who already know and trust you; you don’t have to win them over for business—all you have to do is be present at the right time.
Spend time reaching out to them, supporting their endeavors, especially in a social setting, such as advertising for their kids’ sports programs and sponsoring events. Those relationships are key when there is a recession, and the market is slow.
Establish yourself as the hyperlocal leader of your community, allowing you to give back in a positive and productive way.
8. Make the Switch to a Nearly All-digital Operation
If you haven’t done so already, an economic slowdown is a great time to get your business caught up to the 21st century.
Take your business confidently online so that you are able to conduct business much more efficiently, in a digital space, without you having to be at the helm constantly.
If you’re lacking in certain areas, sign up for some courses to acquire these skills quickly, or talk to a colleague in your office who you know may be comfortable with these technologies.
Try streamlining processing that ordinarily take up valuable time, using technology to improve their efficiency.
For example, boring tasks such as writing listing descriptions can now be generated using AI writing assistant technology. This saves significant time as well as improving lead generation.
9. Market Your Current Listings More Aggressively
If you’ve got listings on the market when a recession hits, the race is on to move those properties before buyers retreat. With unrealistic expectations over the past several months, it’s even more important to price homes to move quickly.
By ramping up your marketing with new social postings, and unique language, can make a huge difference. Well written descriptions will entice potential buyers to view your listings, and make you stand out online.
You can also refresh your current listings instantly using overwrite.ai which allows you to regenerate property writeups, if the property is taking a while to shift.
Your pricing strategy is going to need to change too: prioritize speed to close over the final sale price. Of course, you still want to get the most you can for your sellers, but the longer a property sits on the market during lean times, the harder it becomes to sell at any price.
10. Join a Team
As a solo agent, you reap all the benefits of your hard work. On the other hand, you also shoulder all the risks if things go quiet. Joining a real estate team can provide you with a source of leads, some useful tech, a greater sphere of influence, and the financial support you may need to make it through particularly tough patches.
Over to You
Come out on the other side of the recession ahead of the game. Savvy recession-proofing strategies can set proactive real estate agents up for major success.
A financial recession and its negative consequences can have some unexpected benefits for upstart real estate agents.
Your job now is to find creative ways to demonstrate value to your sphere. Keep communicating with people, create conversations, be as visible as possible, and stay authentically human.
What other ways are you recession-proofing your real estate business? Let us know in the comments, and let’s keep the conversation going.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of overwrite.ai and its owners.
This story has been published from an articleon 20th July 2022.
For informative and light-hearted news and views on the world of real estate, follow overwrite.ai on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.
overwrite.ai | the AI writing assistant for real estate | Sign up for your Free 7 Day Trial.
Despite superficial differences, digital darlings’ business models rest on the same shaky pillars.
When evan spiegel, boss of Snap, wrote in a leaked memo that the social-media company had been “punched in the face hard by 2022’s new economic reality”, he might as well have been describing America’s digital darlings as a whole.
After a multi-year bull run, the sector is suffering a sharp correction.
The nasdaq index, home to many consumer-internet firms, has fallen by nearly 30% in the past 12 months; the Dow Jones Industrial Average, made up of less techie firms, is down by less than 10%. Crunchbase, a data provider, estimates that American tech firms have already shed more than 45,000 jobs this year.
Macroeconomics is partly to blame. Soaring inflation and rising mortgage repayments are leading consumers to cut back on discretionary spending—and most digital offerings are discretionary.
Even the industry’s trillion-dollar giants have not been spared, despite continuing to rake in handsome profits. Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft have collectively lost $2trn in market value over the past 12 months.
The movers, the streamers and the creepers
If you think big tech has it bad, spare a thought for the not-so-big tech. In particular, three business models embraced by firms born after the dotcom crash of 2001—and subsequently by investors—are losing steam: the movers (which shuttle people or things around cities), the streamers (which offer music and tv online) and the creepers (which make money by watching their users and selling eerily well-targeted ads). Over the past year, the firms that epitomise these business models—Uber and DoorDash; Netflix and Spotify; and Snap and Meta (which has tumbled spectacularly out of the trillion-dollar club)—have shed two-thirds of their market capitalisation on average.
And things could get worse. Despite being the global leader in ride-hailing, Uber on November 1st reported yet another quarterly loss. In its 13-year life it has torched a cumulative $25bn of cash, equivalent to roughly half its current market value. DoorDash, the leader in food delivery, also remains lossmaking. So do Spotify (despite decent revenue growth) and Snap (in addition to sharply slowing sales).
Netflix—a child of the 1990s but a streamer only since 2007—turns a profit but its revenue growth was down to 6% year on year in the third quarter, compared with a historical average of more than 20%. Meta’s revenues have now shrunk for two consecutive quarters.
On the surface, the movers, streamers and creepers—and thus their problems—look distinct. On closer inspection, though, their businesses all turn out to face the same main pitfalls: a misplaced faith in network effects, low barriers to entry and a dependence on someone else’s platform.
The network effects
Start with network effects, or “flywheels” in Silicon Valley speak—the idea that a product’s value to a user rises with the number of users. Once the user base passes a certain threshold, the argument goes, the flywheel powers a self-perpetuating cycle of growth. It also explains why so many startups seek growth at all cost, spending millions acquiring ever more customers to get the flywheel spinning.
Network effects are real. But they also have their limits. Uber believed that its headstart in ride-hailing gave it a ticket to riches, as more riders and drivers would mean less idle time for both, drawing ever more users into an unstoppable vortex. Instead, it encountered diminishing returns to scale: reducing average wait times from two minutes to one would require twice as many drivers, even though most riders would barely notice the difference. DoorDash’s hungry consumers likewise only require so many alternative Indian restaurants to choose from. And what network effects the movers enjoy are local; a user in New York cares little about the popularity of the app in Los Angeles.
The Netflix Movie scored a rare 0% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Spotify and Netflix also tried to capitalise on network effects, as oodles of data on the listening and viewing habits of similar users promised to deliver an unbeatable product. Belief that Netflix’s trove of user information would give it a winning edge in creating content has been shattered by flops like “True Memoirs of an International Assassin”, which scored a rare 0% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a review website. For the creepers—whose social networks are a network-effects business par excellence—the worry is what happens if the flywheels start spinning in reverse. Meta had a scare in the fourth quarter of 2021, when it lost 1m users. That loss did not turn into a stampede; the company has added users since. Next time it may not be so lucky.
From Boon to Bane
The second problem—low barriers to entry—also looks like a supposed boon that turned into a bane. Advances in technology, from smartphones to cloud computing, allowed all manner of startups, including the movers, streamers and creepers, to build consumer software cheaply and quickly. But that also meant that copycats soon emerged, and easy money allowed them to offer generous discounts to quickly build the minimum necessary scale.
Fending off the rivals
Although Uber faces only one real ride-hailing rival, Lyft, in its home market, its global expansion almost immediately ran up against local rivals such as Didi in China or Grab and Gojek in South-East Asia.
The combination of relatively simple products and free-of-charge user experience means a new twist on social media can be enough for a new challenger to gain momentum: just try to pry a teenager from TikTok.
The barriers to entry for the streamers are higher—Netflix and Spotify spend a lot of money making or licensing content. But they are not insurmountable, especially for deep-pocketed rivals. To fend off the challenge from Disney, which is spending a total of $30bn a year on content, Netflix has to keep splurging, too, to the tune of around $17bn a year. Like customer-acquisition costs for the movers, content costs eat into streamers’ profits. Disney’s streaming services lost $1.1bn in the second quarter of this year and the company has said that its Disney+ platform expects to lose money until 2024. Heavy investment explains why Netflix’s free cashflow (the money companies generate after subtracting capital investments) is equal to only 6% of revenue.
Is the clock ticking for TikTok?
The third flaw common to the three wobbly business models is their reliance on distribution platforms that are not their own. Uber and DoorDash pay a handsome fee to advertise on the iPhone and Alphabet’s Android app stores. Spotify forks over a 15% commission on subscriptions purchased on iPhones—a tax so annoying that it has filed a complaint against Apple over it. Netflix avoids the commission by forcing users to subscribe through their web browser, shifting the irritation to the customer—and quite possibly missing out on subscriptions.
Worst affected by the lack of their own rails are the creepers. Their dependence on the iPhone-Android duopoly is an existential threat. Apple’s newish requirement that users give iPhone apps permission to track their activity across other apps and websites, a move since replicated by Alphabet, may this year cost Meta an estimated $10bn in forgone revenue. Parler, a creeper favoured by the far right for its liberal attitude to speech norms, was temporarily suspended by both Apple and Android. If American national-security hawks worried about TikTok’s Chinese ownership get their way and force Apple and Alphabet to expel it from their app stores, the rising star of social media could find itself similarly thwacked.
The different business models do not face an equal balance of challenges. The movers would be in better nick if the industry had meaningful barriers to entry. The streamers may have been able to bat away new entrants if network effects had been stronger. And the creepers were in reasonable shape until Apple and Alphabet spoiled their party. One shaky pillar is problematic enough. Three of them is a disaster waiting to happen.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of overwrite.ai and its owners.
This story has been repurposed from an article published online in The Economist on 31st October 2022, without modifications to the text.
For informative and light-hearted news and views on the world of real estate, follow overwrite.ai on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our NewsBites blog, updated weekly.
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Agents in Australia are turning to increasingly frenzied measures to hunt for sellers.
Lower supply, falling house prices and rapid interest rate rises are deterring sellers from entering the market.
Latest tactics include handwritten “pleas”, recipe cards and even garden seeds, posted through letterboxes in an attempt to lure new prospects.
The number of newly advertised homes for sale on Realestate.com fell by 7.5% last month, the latest PropTrack Listings Report released on Wednesday found, in a sluggish start to the usually busy spring season.
The Hello Haus founder, Scott Aggett, said agents were under pressure with housing stock levels notably lower than previous years, resorting to door-knocking, cold calling and flyer drops.
“Agents are on the hunt for more quality listings to service,” he said. “Their personal income and business income will be down, due to lower trading volume and lower prices when compared with last year’s revenue.
“They need listings that are fresh and priced to today’s market value, not homes they may have been working on with vendors that have been considering selling for some time and [are] yet to adapt to current pricing levels.”
Scott Aggett, Founder Hello Haus
The unsolicited, door-to-door approach is angering some homeowners
Planting the seed
Tougher market conditions are also encouraging some agents to get in touch with their creative side to lure prospective buyers.
Some residents have reported to have been receiving three or four offers for agent evaluations a week, often accompanied by handwritten notes, recipes or garden seeds, to help seal the deal.
Some homeowners are reporting to find this approach a little “creepy”.
How far would you be prepared to go to get new clients? Let us know in the comments below.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of overwrite.ai and its owners.
This story has been published from an article in The Guardian by Caitlin Cassidy on 21st October 2022. The headline and images have been changed.
For informative and light-hearted news and views on the world of real estate, follow overwrite.ai on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our weekly NewsBites blog.
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It’s the first speech-to-speech translation system powered by artificial intelligence (AI) for a primarily oral language, specifically used in parts of China.
Zuckerberg said: “We’re developing AI for real-time speech translation to break down language barriers in the physical world and in the metaverse.Our AI research can help break down language barriers in both the physical world and the metaverse to encourage connection and mutual understanding.”
With almost 3,500 living languages being spoken, that could be hugely impactful for global connection and engagement.
Opening up
Meta is open sourcing its translation dataset in the language known as Hokkien, and its SpeechMatrix system. This includes a large collection of speech-to-speech translations developed through its natural language processing toolkit.
Because Hokkien is a lesser-used language, and largely spoken not written, it doesn’t have a wide corpus of text-based material available.
Meta says that this new process will alleviate the need for transcription output in translation.
“Meta AI built the first speech translator that works for languages that are primarily spoken rather than written. We’re open sourcing this so people can use it for more languages.
While the translation model is still a work in progress and can translate only one full sentence at a time, it’s a step toward a future where simultaneous translation between languages is possible.
The techniques we pioneered can be extended to many other written and unwritten languages.”
Into the metaverse
Meta’s Zuckerberg Reveals First Speech to Speech AI Translation System
As part of its broader quest to ‘Connect the World’, Meta’s new AI-real time translator can be applied to its metaverse future, enabling broader interaction, on a global scale.
It hopes to facilitate a Star Trek-like metaverse experience, where anyone can speak their native language and still take part in the global conversation.
“The ability to communicate with anyone in any language — that’s a superpower people have dreamed of forever, and AI is going to deliver that within our lifetimes.”
M. Zuckerberg
A new frontier
The potential for AI translation tools like these to expand opportunities for future business collaboration is huge. Opening up the world to broader connectivity will no doubt expand market reach. In turn, facilitating all-new potential within marketing communication and content creation.
It’s another exciting step towards a more diverse, more connected digital world.
And despite its infancy, anything that endeavours to bring together cultures in a way that’s never been possible before, is worth talking about – in whatever language you speak.
For informative and light-hearted news and views on the world of real estate, follow overwrite.ai on Instagram and LinkedIn, and keep up-to-date with our NewsBites blog, updated weekly.
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The world’s richest billionaires come from varied backgrounds, industries, generations and countries.
They’re tech entrepreneurs, a fashion magnate, probably the world’s savviest ever investor, a pioneering industrialist and a space-watching Twitter hot head – hi Elon.
What sets them apart, however, is their canny ability to make money. They’re not just good at it, they’re the best in the world at it. Possibly ever. From pioneering inventions to repeated shrewd business moves they’re billionaires for a reason.
Can we learn anything from them? Without a doubt.
Check out these pearls of wisdom from the world’s top 10 richest billionaires.
10) Sergey Brin
The computer scientist and Google co-founder is famed for creating a culture of innovation, experimentation and developing creative technology on his way to an $80.5bn fortune. The secret? Not being confined by rules, apparently.
“Too many rules stifle innovation.”
S.Brin
9) Mukesh Ambani
The chairman of Reliance Industries has interest in telecoms, retail, oil and gas and petrochemicals.
And he just bought Dubai’s most expensive private villa ever. FOR THE SECOND TIME.
How did he turn this into an $83.9bn fortune? Hard work. Lots of hard work.
“It is important to remember that there are no overnight successes. You will need to be dedicated, single-minded, and there is no substitute to hard work.”
M. Ambani
8) Larry Page
How do you make $84bn and become one of the world’s richest billionaires? It sounds counterintuitive, but the Google co-founder says money motivation is not the way.
“If we were motivated by money, we would have sold the company a long time ago and ended up on a beach.”
L. Page
7) Larry Ellison
Larry Ellison gave up the CEO role at Oracle nearly 10 years ago, after 37 years at the helm. Still the CTO and owner of about 35% of the company he knows the importance of being different in the boardroom and the marketplace. An $87.4bn bank balance proves him right.
“If you do everything that everyone else does in business, you’re going to lose. The only way to really be ahead is to ‘be different’.”
L.Ellison
6) Warren Buffet
The former chewing gum and door-to-door salesman has come a long way and made many billions. $95.5bn to be precise. His best rule for aspiring billionaires – don’t lose money. Simple.
“Rule No. 1 is never lose money. Rule No. 2 is never forget Rule No. 1.”
W.Buffet
5) Bill Gates
Software developer and Microsoft founder Gates has spent much of the past thirty years recognised as one of the world’s richest billionaires and is now a leading philanthropist with a personal net worth estimated at $99.8bn. Follow his advice and learn more from setbacks than success.
“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”.
B.Gates
4) Gautam Adani
Port development business leader and industrialist Gautam Adani thinks long-term vision over short-term profit is a key characteristic of a leader. It is a belief that has carried him to a $124.4bn fortune.
“I am not attracted to those politicians who are short on vision and only want to make money. I like those who have vision.”
G.Adani
3) Jeff Bezos
Shopkeeper and online retail mogul Bezos has built Amazon into an all-conquering online shopping giant with a personal net worth estimated at $130.4bn. How? Building a reputation.
“A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.”
J.Bezos
2) Bernard Arnault
Growth, growth, growth. If it is good enough for luxury goods specialist Bernard Arnault and his family then it is good enough for any aspiring entrepreneur or lesser billionaires. It has taken the Arnault family to an estimated $147.8bn.
“The goal of a start-up is not to stay a start-up. The goal of a start-up is to grow and to become, if possible, a large company.”
B.Arnault
1) Elon Musk
A personal fortune of $207.7bn, Tesla and SpaceX optimistic for the future the world hanging on his every tweet and the title of the world’s richest man. It is fair to say Elon Musk knows a thing or two about making money. As the quote shows he has a single-minded determination to go his own way.
“If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it.”
E.Musk
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of overwrite.ai and its owners.
This story has been published from an article published online in Arabian Business on 16th October 2022, without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
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